Day: April 23, 2010

On April 22, as part of the global Earth Day celebrations, homes, offices and public buildings in 14 Israeli cities turned out the lights for one hour in an effort to “increase awareness of the vital need to reduce energy consumption.” The Earth Day celebrations included scenes of green fields, wind generators and rainbows projected on the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, the Green Globes Award ceremony recognizing “outstanding contributions to promote the environment” and a concert in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv powered by generators running on vegetable oil as well as volunteers on 48 bikes pedaling away to produce electricity.

Subsequent to HR 2194, Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act, passing Congress with a 400-11vote on April 23, 2010, Ron Paul spoke on the House floor equating Sanctions on Iran to an Act of War against Iran and her allies, which include Russia and China. Continue reading →

Capitalism lives from war. Capitalism needs wars in order to sell its weaponry. — Evo Morales

Democracy Now!
April 23, 2010

Bolivian President Evo Morales on President Obama: “I Can’t Believe a Black President Can Hold So Much Vengeance Against an Indian President”

As the World Peoples’ Conference on Climate Change in Cochabamba closes, we speak to Bolivian President Evo Morales about the US decision to cut off climate aid to Bolivia; narcotrafficking; the tenth anniversary of the Water Wars in Cochabamba; the protest at the San Cristóbal silver mine; and the contradiction between promoting the environment and extractive industries—oil/natural gas exploration, mining.

On Thursday organizers of the peoples’ summit released an Agreement of the Peoples based on working group meetings. Key proposals include the establishment of an international tribunal to prosecute polluters, passage of a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, protection for climate migrants, and the full recognition of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. [includes rush transcript]

The new military space plane, called the X-37B, was launched yesterday from Cape Canaveral strapped to an Atlas V rocket. The X-37 will spend up to 270 days in space before landing at Vandenberg AFB in California. The space plane will mostly fly on “autopilot” since there is no human inside the craft.

Meanwhile yesterday at Vandenberg AFB, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) also test launched another space plane – the Hypersonic Technology Vehicle, known as the Falcon.

The two-day NATO foreign ministers meeting in the Estonian capital of Tallinn on April 22-23 focused on the completion of the military alliance’s first 21st century Strategic Concept and on the war in Afghanistan, the near-complete absorption of the Balkans into the bloc, and the expansion of operations at the Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence established by NATO two years ago in the same city.

The most important deliberations, however, were on the integrally related questions of U.S. nuclear weapons stored on air bases in five NATO member states and the expansion of the Pentagon’s interceptor missile program to all of Europe west of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

He’s usually the first one out on the corner, Peace sign in hand. A shade over six feet, a click in front of 81 years, Walt stands tall. His white hair flows in the wind, and you can tell he should take better care of his person….. The way he cares for Fran, his significant other….. Like one cares for a wounded bird. Quite a guy!

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today celebrated a tentative agreement between Hugo Boss and representatives of Workers United SEIU to keep the Brooklyn, Ohio manufacturing plant operational for at least three years. Kucinich fought to keep the plant open.

“This is a tremendous victory for organized labor and for our Northeast Ohio economy. Once again, the community has rallied, and today our voices carried all the way to Germany. Time and again I have said that when given the opportunity, Northeast Ohio workers can accomplish anything. We have the skilled people, the infrastructure and the location necessary for the success of any business.

Barry Lynn talked about his book Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction Wiley; January 7, 2010. In his book he explores the industrial interdependence among nations and the growing fragility of complex industrial systems. He talked about the nation’s founding as a fight against monopolies, such as evidenced by the Boston Tea Party. Mr. Lynn responded to questions from members of the audience. Mr. Lynn is also the author of End of the Line: The Rise and Coming Fall of the Global Corporation Doubleday; August 16, 2005. “The Monopoly Menace” was the 2:45 p.m. program in Katharine Hall of the eighth annual Annapolis Book Festival held on the campus of The Key School. Continue reading →

How A Computer Program Designed To Save The Free Market Turned Into A Monster

While the SEC is busy investigating Goldman Sachs, it might want to look into another Goldman-dominated fraud: computerized front running using high-frequency trading programs.

Market commentators are fond of talking about “free market capitalism,” but according to Wall Street commentator Max Keiser, it is no more. It has morphed into what his TV co-host Stacy Herbert calls “rigged market capitalism”: all markets today are subject to manipulation for private gain.

Keiser isn’t just speculating about this. He claims to have invented one of the most widely used programs for doing the rigging. Not that that’s what he meant to invent. His patented program was designed to take the manipulation out of markets. It would do this by matching buyers with sellers automatically, eliminating “front running” – brokers buying or selling ahead of large orders coming in from their clients. The computer program was intended to remove the conflict of interest that exists when brokers who match buyers with sellers are also selling from their own accounts. But the program fell into the wrong hands and became the prototype for automated trading programs that actually facilitate front running.

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The Senate voted to save net neutrality. Now we need the House of Representatives to do the same, or else the FCC will let ISPs like Comcast and Verizon ruin the internet with throttling, censorship and unnecessary fees. Click the image below to write to Congress.

The Golden Rule

“That which is hateful to you do not do to another ... the rest (of the Torah) is all commentary, now go study.” - Rabbi Hillel

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

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